NASA Invites Public to Learn About Light, Optics, and the James Webb Space Telescope

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Md. will host a special Webb Family Science Night on Wednesday, July 25 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. EDT. It's a free evening for middle-school aged children and their families to explore light, optics, and NASA's most powerful space telescope.

The James Webb Space Telescope will examine every phase of our history including the first galaxies to form after the Big Bang. Through a variety of hands-on activities, visitors will explore light and optics as they learn about the Webb telescope from experts who work on it. Participants will then build a simple-refracting telescope that they will get to take home to explore the Universe on their own.

Participants can partake in hands-on activities and can see what light looks like after it passes through lenses. By putting one lens in front of another, they can make a telescope. Although Webb is not a telescope that will use a lens to collect its light, participants will be able to build a telescope of similar ability to that of Galileo's.

This special Webb Family Science Night is a hands-on and inquiry-based program designed for middle school students and their families, intended to increase STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) engagement, interest, and understanding. The Webb Family Science Night is a collaboration between NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and Goddard's Office of Education. The educational materials supporting this event are donated by SPIE - the International Society for Photonics and Optics.

Preregistration for this event is required and limited. For more information on the Webb Family Science Night, visit Goddard's Visitor Center event page or call 301-286-0251.